Buick's Avenir Sub-Brand Is Kind of a Big Deal

Buick’s Avenir Sub-Brand Is Kind of a Big Deal

By Manuel Carrillo III - November 15, 2017

2018 Buick Enclave Avenir

The Avenir badge has only been around for a couple of months, but it’s already making the company loads of money.

Buick took a page out of GMC’s playbook when they unveiled the Avenir sub-brand earlier this year. As our colleagues at Motor Authority reported in February, GMC’s Denali package is big money for that company. The Denali package denotes the top-level trim on GMC vehicles. In an industry where options make car companies lots of profit, it’s big news that 25 percent of all GMCs sold are Denalis.

That quarter share of Denali sales has made GMC an industry leader with the highest transaction price among non-luxury brands. GMC makes so much money, in fact, that if it were to spin off from General Motors, its revenues would still be enough to rank it at 150 on the Fortune 500.

For an automaker that oftentimes shares showroom space with GMC, it makes sense Buick would want to follow in its GM relative’s profitable lead, thus the emergence of the Avenir sub-brand that denotes top-level Buicks.

So far, pulling from GMC’s playbook has been paying off. More than 30 percent of 2018 Enclaves wear the Avenir badge, which means that almost a third of Enclave buyers are transacting from $54,410 to north of 60 grand. That’s significant when you consider the Enclave’s starting price is $40,990.

Buick is poised to continue that momentum with the all-new 2018 LaCrosse. The automaker has sold more than 1.1 million LaCrosses globally since 2009. Among that 1.1 million, nearly 90 percent of LaCrosse buyers chose one of the car’s top two trim levels. In other words, expect to see the Avenir badge on a majority of LaCrosses you see on the road.